Tech upgrades on 2019 Fort Smith budget

By Jadyn Watson-FisherTimes Recordjwatsonfisher@swtimes.com

Sunday

Dec 2, 2018 at 12:01 AM

Multiple Fort Smith departments plan to spend thousands of dollars each on various software and technological upgrades in 2019. The costs may be higher upfront, but the directors believe these will save money long term.

Going paperless

The topic of recycling is at the front of residents’ minds. It costs Fort Smith a significant amount of money to recycle, and it’s not the most effective way to help the environment.

Studies indicate prevention of any waste is the best solution. Several departments are taking steps to reduce the amount of paper used in the city.

Finance Director Jennifer Walker said the city cannot force citizens to use electronic forms of communication in regard to billing and other notifications. However, it can be incentivized.

Residents have been unable to pay bills online or over the phone due to the implementation of a new billing system. But once the city has worked out most of the kinks, there’s a good chance Fort Smith will roll out a paperless billing incentive, officials say.

“Once we have the new utility billing system up and running, we’re going to look at some incentive programs,” Walker said. “What a lot of cities will do is offer $1 a month off your utility bill if you opt out of paper. It ends up saving the city a ton of paper and it gives a little bit of an incentive to the citizens.”

Director of Development Services Wally Bailey said he hopes to purchase nine iPads for the planning commission.

Bailey said the department “pretty much wipe(s) out a whole forest” when printing documents for the commission’s meetings. He wants these iPads to help them go paperless. Not only is it better for the environment, but it will lower copying costs as many documents, such as maps, must be printed in color.

“If we can get those scanned electronically, like what the board receives, that’s going to help save us money,” Bailey said.

Light ’em up

The city is pushing for the implementation of low energy LEDs (light emitting diodes) in both street lights and decorative lights around town.

Parks and Recreation Director Doug Reinert told the board his department is working “in phases” to complete this project.

Reinert mentioned the snowflake lights downtown and those near the riverfront, but many of the Christmas lights displays at Creekmore Park feature LEDs.

These are easier to maintain and cost less in electricity. Reinert said while only about 1,200 halogen bulbs can be placed on a circuit, up to 4,800 LED bulbs can go on one because of their lower energy use.

Streets Director George Allen is also working to get the city’s street lights converted to LED. He said OG&E keeps telling him they’re "in training," so he plans to communicate with the company again.

Settle said he regularly sees street lights out, but Fort Smith pays for the service. He wants the lights to be fixed and upgraded as promised.

As part of the lighting issues, incoming At-large Director Neal Martin mentioned the MyFortSmith mobile app. The Streets director confirmed with Martin that people can report problems such as street light outages on the MyFortSmith mobile app.

“That’s a great device and not everyone uses it,” said Fort Smith Mayor Sandy Sanders.

Streamlining the workflow

The Utilities Department anticipates spending $100,000 on 50 e-Builder computer licenses that are expected to streamline workflow for the city department. Through the program, utilities staff will be able to store invoices, project plans, fill out construction logs and help with the electronic workflow.

Utilities Director Jerry Walters said there are around 200 e-Builder users already, including external vendors who use the program. While it might seem like a lot of money for what seems like a fancy version of Google Drive, Walters said this really helps the department keep track of project timelines and know exactly when plans and other documents are submitted.

It’s also not a new item on the budget. The department has used the program since 2016 through contract with CDM Smith. Walters recently worked with the company to reconfigure the city’s contract, but the e-Builder program is now a separate line item in the upcoming budget. It was previously listed in "other expenses."

Utilities also works with a SCADA, or "supervisory control and data acquisition system." The department has budgeted for a $660,000 upgrade to a newer program that takes data remotely from the various plants around the city. It pulls reports about power outages, alarms, communications failures and helps the city determine where resources should be focused.

Ignition, the requested program, has a higher level of security than what is currently used, Walters says. The department believes this is important to prevent someone from getting into the city’s power grid or other electronic systems.

“It does save some money and it’s a very secure system,” said Settle, plant manager for Exide Technologies, which utilizes the same program.

The Streets Department uses a workflow manager of its own, Streets Director Allen said. The program, called Lucity, is one of the department’s highest priorities, he said.

“It’s something I want to get up and running,” Allen said of Lucity.

He also told the board it helps track daily activities, fleet location, scheduling, inventory, and it creates work orders while sending notifications through every step of the process.

The Board of Directors will approve the budget by the end of the year, allowing the purchase of these requests or continue the funding for the projects.

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